January 06, 2020
By Patrick Sweeney
Co-witness is an administrative process. It allows you to check red-dot and iron-sight agreement, without having to fire for re-zero every time something gets bumped.
OK, we still get the occasional confused shooter, trying to co-witness sights while shooting. It does not mean to both use the iron sights and put the dot on top of the front blade when aiming. When we get a new shooter in a class, who is using a red dot and taking longer than usual to aim and fire, that’s the usual cause.
Co-witnessing is not a marksmanship exercise, it is an administrative exercise.
Your iron sights and your red dot must both be zeroed (and the distance for zero is one of great debate), then, when you have the sights up and the dot on, your dot will appear to ride on the top, dead center of your front post when you are aiming with the irons.
This is just a non-shooting check that they agree.
Let’s say you have zeroed your rifle or carbine. The dot and sights agree. Then, one day your rifle falls off the patrol car, out of the rack, off the tailgate of your pickup, whatever. You simply (and in a safe direction) turn on the red-dot, stand up your sights, and aim. If the dot still rides top dead center on your post, nothing has changed. If it doesn’t, one or both have been jarred enough by the fall to have shifted, and you need to find out which. That means re-zero your rifle.
That’s The Only Reason For Co-Witness.
When you are shooting, you ignore the iron sights, use the dot, and anytime you see the dot anywhere in the tube of screen, you have your aiming point. Don’t use both at the same time.
